American election: the priorities of the new president of the United States Joe Biden
After four days of uncertainty over the ballot count, Joe Biden's presidential victory was announced by US media on Saturday. The former vice-president of Obama becomes the 46th American president, accompanied by his running mate Kamala Harris. What are their main priorities?
Joe Biden was elected President of the United States on Saturday, defeating Donald Trump and ending an unprecedented political streak that shook America and the world. He immediately promised to be the president "of all Americans". “It's time to put the anger and the heated rhetoric behind us and come together,” he tweeted at first.
"I pledge to be a president who unites and not who divides," he then launched during a heated speech in his home in Delaware, Wilmington. "Let's see each other, let's talk," "let's give ourselves a chance," he insisted, to the sound of enthusiastic horns. It is "time to heal the wounds" of the country and to put an end to the "demonizations".
Thanking the "broad and diverse coalition" which put forward his candidacy, he paid tribute to the African Americans, who played a central role in his victory. "They always support me, as I will support them."
"I campaigned to restore the soul of America," he repeated.
What does Joe Biden want to do once he's invested in the White House on January 20? Health, climate, economy ... The new Democratic president and his vice-president Kamala Harris have already specified their priorities.
Fight against the coronavirus
Joe Biden is planning a national strategy on Covid-19, a major law presented to Congress to fund a national testing campaign. He promises that the future vaccine will be free for all and will impose the wearing of the mask in federal buildings and in federal transport between states. He shouldn't stray far from Donald Trump's slogan "America first" by quickly launching the manufacture of medical products and equipment in the United States. He will secure the services and advice of Doctor Anthony Fauci, a highly respected member of the White House crisis cell on the coronavirus.
Dr Fauci has regularly contradicted Donald Trump's unscientific claims, and the Republican President recently announced that he intended to sack him as soon as the ballot is over, regardless of the outcome. He accuses him of being a Democrat.
Return to the Paris Climate Agreement
Donald Trump made the exit of the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement a priority on June 1, 2017. One of the objectives of the Paris Agreement, signed in December 2015 by 195 countries, is to contain rising temperatures to 1.5 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era. As early as November 5, when the counting of the ballots began, Joe Biden announced that his first act would be to bring his country back to the Paris Agreement. The United States will have to officially notify the United Nations of its desire to backtrack and therefore to sign the Agreement.
Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it. https://t.co/L8UJimS6v2
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 5, 2020
"In exactly 77 days, a Biden administration will join the Paris Agreement."
But notifying the UN will only be the start. Indeed, the first world power will not be able to participate on December 12 in the international conference on climate COP 26 in the United Kingdom, because the inauguration of Joe Biden will not take place until January 20, 2021.
Joe Biden also wants to stop the procedure for the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), launched by Donald Trump last July, following numerous criticisms of the organization from the Republican president.
Stop the economic crisis
The vote of a vast aid plan for the recovery of the economy is the other priority of Joe Biden. He has often taken the example of the aid plan launched by Barack Obama and himself (he was then vice-president) in 2009. He relies on his ability to convince elected Republicans to break the current deadlock in Congress, where no text proposed by Donald Trump was finally voted for lack of agreement with the Democrats.
To revive American production after the coronavirus crisis, it is planning $ 700 billion. To do so, it will increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations, including doubling the tax on corporate profits made abroad. Joe Biden also wants tax revenues to be reinvested in social programs, education and infrastructure upgrades.
Joe Biden promises to create five million jobs through his "Buy American" plan. In this plan, the government plans to spend $ 400 billion to purchase products and services. $ 300 billion would also be earmarked for research and development, half of which goes to renewable industries.
Workers on the frontlines of the Covid crisis would receive a pay rise and up to 14 days of paid work stoppage if they are sick with Covid or have to stay home to care for one of their relatives sick with the virus.
Joe Biden also plans to double the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour at the federal level. Some states (such as New York and California) already have a minimum wage in their territory that is significantly higher than the minimum wage. But at the federal level, the minimum wage does not even reach 8 dollars an hour.
Restore medical coverage for all
Donald Trump spent the four years of his mandate unraveling several actions of Barack Obama. The most significant, the most symbolic, is the "Obamacare" (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), medical coverage for all, which in particular requires all companies to finance basic health insurance for their employees.
Obamacare also prevents health insurance from making a pre-existing illness a condition of membership. The text also extended the medical aid program for the poorest, Medicaid, with which 15 million more Americans can have health coverage.
But many states have taken Obamacare to court. In these states (like Texas), the program is not enforced. Republicans regularly attempt to repeal the law. The text has passed more than fifty times before Congress.
For now, elected officials have unraveled certain parts of the text, especially the main articles. The Federal Supreme Court must reconsider the constitutionality of the law. The appointment by the Trump administration of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett, to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, gives the majority to the conservative judges, who could well repeal the text, as Donald Trump has always wished. What made Joe Biden say:
“Health care is a personal matter for me. Obamacare is a personal matter. When I see the president trying to tear it down, I take it personally. We have to build on what we've done because every American deserves. accessible health care. "
As a result, with the federal government no longer regulating health coverage, and the obligation to purchase coverage having been removed from the text, 30 million Americans are without health insurance, because since the state no longer controls prices, insurance policies keep increasing. Joe Biden would expand Obamacare to more middle-class families.
